The California demurrer: the meet-and-confer you have to do first, and the 30 days it can buy you

California procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026

A demurrer is California's motion to dismiss: it argues the pleading fails as a matter of law, taking its allegations as true. What makes California practice distinctive isn't the demurrer itself but the statute wrapped around it. CCP 430.41 imposes a mandatory conference before filing, limits what a second demurrer may raise, and caps how many times a complaint can be amended in response.

The grounds

CCP 430.10 lists the objections that may be raised by demurrer or answer:

(a) the court has no jurisdiction of the subject of the cause of action;
(b) the person who filed the pleading lacks legal capacity to sue;
(c) there is another action pending between the same parties on the same cause of action;
(d) there is a defect or misjoinder of parties;
(e) the pleading does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action;
(f) the pleading is uncertain — and "uncertain" here "includes ambiguous and unintelligible";
(g) in an action on a contract, it can't be ascertained from the pleading whether the contract is written, oral, or implied by conduct;
(h) no certificate was filed as required by Section 411.35.

CCP 430.40(a) sets the deadline: a party may demur "within 30 days after service of the complaint or cross-complaint." Same window as the answer. CCP 430.40(b) gives a plaintiff 10 days after service of an answer to demur to it.

The mandatory meet and confer

CCP 430.41(a):

Before filing a demurrer pursuant to this chapter, the demurring party shall meet and confer in person, by telephone, or by video conference with the party who filed the pleading that is subject to demurrer for the purpose of determining whether an agreement can be reached that would resolve the objections to be raised in the demurrer.

Three modes are named — in person, telephone, video conference. Letters and emails are not among them. And the obligation repeats: "If an amended complaint, cross-complaint, or answer is filed, the responding party shall meet and confer again with the party who filed the amended pleading before filing a demurrer to the amended pleading."

CCP 430.41(a)(1) says what the conference has to contain. The demurring party "shall identify all of the specific causes of action that it believes are subject to demurrer and identify with legal support the basis of the deficiencies." The other side "shall provide legal support for its position that the pleading is legally sufficient."

Both sides owe legal support. This is not a phone call announcing an intention to demur.

The 5-day rule and the automatic 30 days

CCP 430.41(a)(2):

The parties shall meet and confer at least 5 days before the date the responsive pleading is due. If the parties are not able to meet and confer at least 5 days before the date the responsive pleading is due, the demurring party shall be granted an automatic 30-day extension of time within which to file a responsive pleading, by filing and serving, on or before the date on which a demurrer would be due, a declaration stating under penalty of perjury that a good faith attempt to meet and confer was made and explaining the reasons why the parties could not meet and confer.

This is one of the most useful provisions in California civil procedure and one of the most frequently missed. Read the conditions closely:

The extension is automatic — no motion, no hearing, no agreement from the other side.
It is 30 days.
It requires a declaration under penalty of perjury, stating that a good faith attempt was made and explaining why the conference didn't happen.
The declaration must be filed and served on or before the date the demurrer would be due. File it a day late and the mechanism is gone.

A defendant who realizes on day 27 that they cannot get opposing counsel on the phone has a statutory route to day 60 — provided they file the declaration by day 30.

One demurrer's worth of grounds

CCP 430.41(b):

A party demurring to a pleading that has been amended after a demurrer to an earlier version of the pleading was sustained shall not demur to any portion of the amended complaint, cross-complaint, or answer on grounds that could have been raised by demurrer to the earlier version.

Grounds available the first time and not raised are gone for the second demurrer. The structure parallels FRCP 12(g)(2) and CPLR 3211(e) — one bite, with the omitted grounds forfeited.

Post-ruling conferences

CCP 430.41(c): if the court sustains a demurrer to one or more causes of action and grants leave to amend, it "may order a conference of the parties before an amended complaint or cross-complaint or a demurrer to an amended complaint or cross-complaint, may be filed."

Two protections come with it. If a conference is held, "the court shall not preclude a party from filing a demurrer and the time to file a demurrer shall not begin until after the conference has concluded." And the subdivision doesn't stop the court ordering a conference on its own motion at any time, or a party from requesting one.

Where the section does not apply

CCP 430.41(d) exempts two categories:

an action in which a party not represented by counsel is incarcerated in a local, state or federal correctional institution;
a proceeding in forcible entry, forcible detainer, or unlawful detainer.

That second exemption matters. Evictions run on the compressed schedule in CCP 1170 — a demurrer hearing 5 to 7 court days after the notice of motion is filed — and the meet-and-confer requirement and its 30-day extension do not apply.

The three-amendment limit

CCP 430.41(e)(1):

In response to a demurrer and prior to the case being at issue, a complaint or cross-complaint shall not be amended more than three times, absent an offer to the trial court as to such additional facts to be pleaded that there is a reasonable possibility the defect can be cured to state a cause of action.

The limit excludes an amendment made without leave under Section 472, provided it is made before a demurrer to the original pleading is filed. CCP 430.41(e)(2) preserves a party's other rights to amend or respond.

Amending instead of opposing — CCP 472

Often the cheapest response to a demurrer is to amend rather than fight it. CCP 472(a):

A party may amend its pleading once without leave of the court at any time before the answer, demurrer, or motion to strike is filed, or after a demurrer or motion to strike is filed but before the demurrer or motion to strike is heard if the amended pleading is filed and served no later than the date for filing an opposition to the demurrer or motion to strike.

So the window to amend as of right doesn't close when the demurrer is filed. It closes on the opposition deadline. After that date the parties may still amend by stipulation.

The subdivision ends with a point that resets the calendar: "The time for responding to an amended pleading shall be computed from the date of service of the amended pleading."

CCP 472(b) excludes anti-SLAPP special motions under Section 425.16.

Motion to strike — CCP 435. Any party, within the time allowed to respond, may move to strike all or part of a pleading, with the hearing set under Section 1005. CCP 435(c): filing a motion to strike without demurring extends the time to answer and no default may be entered, except as Sections 585 and 586 provide. CCP 435(d): filing a motion to strike does not extend the time to demur.

Motion to quash — CCP 418.10. Extends the time to plead until 15 days after service of written notice of entry of an order denying it, with up to 20 more days for good cause.

The sequence, in order

Calendar the responsive-pleading date — 30 days after service under CCP 430.40(a).
Work back 5 days. That is the meet-and-confer deadline under CCP 430.41(a)(2).
If the conference happens, raise every ground — CCP 430.41(b) forfeits what you leave out.
If it can't happen in time, file the declaration on or before the demurrer due date and take the automatic 30 days.
If you're the pleading party, consider CCP 472 — amending once, up to the opposition deadline, without leave.

Where these rules live

The California courts run a free self-help site at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov. This page explains what the statutes say. It isn't legal advice.

How this guide is sourced. Every procedural statement here is drawn from the text of the rules named above, each of which is reproduced verbatim on its own page on this site. Quoted rule language appears in quotation marks or block quotes; everything else is original writing. Last verified August 17, 2026.

This page explains what the rules say. It is legal information, not legal advice, and it cannot tell you how a rule applies to your situation. Deadlines are often short and some are not extendable — if the outcome matters, talk to a lawyer or your court’s self-help center.